A takeaway restaurant in the suburban London district of Chingford has been shut down after food hygiene inspectors uncovered a serious insect infestation.
The Chicks Chicken and Pizza restaurant was inspected by the council’s environmental health team after a member of the public called up with a complaint about a cockroach on a wall of the premises. In an unannounced visit, inspectors found to their horror that the business was infested with German cockroaches, which were everywhere from the walls behind freezers and cookers to the insides of paper towel dispensers.
In addition, the restaurant was generally very dirty throughout, suggesting that staff and managers had either not had the right food hygiene training or were neglecting their responsibilities.
The Chicks Chicken and Pizza restaurant has now been closed down under an Emergency Hygiene Prohibition Order that the council obtained from Stratford Magistrates’ Court. Commenting on the case, Waltham Forest Council’s Councillor Clyde Loakes said:
“It’s a horrible array of unsanitary conditions in which to prepare, cook and sell food,”
“It just beggars belief that anyone working with food could be quite so irresponsible.
“To continue to serve food when cockroaches are running around freely makes my stomach churn.”